


Not Yet Obsolete

by fictional_normalcy



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Captivity, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Kindred Spirits, What-If, sn 2 ep 15 kindred spirits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24641572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictional_normalcy/pseuds/fictional_normalcy
Summary: Danny had thought he'd done enough. Destroyed all the clones, Vlad's equipment. But his powers hadn't been enough. Vlad had an unwavering goal to create a perfect half-ghost son. He wouldn't let Danny go so easily. He needed to keep him in one place until he could achieve what he wanted.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	Not Yet Obsolete

The ghostly wail fully exhausted and Vlad slammed against the wall, Danny let the cry drift off. Feeling extremely dazed and barely able to to stand on his own two feet. He was no longer able to sustain his ghost form. The two silver rings flowing up and down his body to return him to being Fenton instead of Phantom. He fell to his knees, taking heavy breaths as he struggled to remain conscious. He felt the light touch of Danielle’s hand at his back. 

“Out of power. But worth it to take this place down.” 

“Stay away from him!” Danielle suddenly shouted, jumping in front of him. 

Danny lifted his head, able to see that his enemy’s ghost form had returned, undeterred in the slightest. The wail had done some damage, destroying the other containment chambers and holding back the evil half-ghost, but it hadn’t been enough. Unfortunately, he’d already expended his energy. 

“I don’t think so girl. You don’t dare use your powers again, and he’s beaten.”

He couldn’t get his arms to bring himself back up. Danielle had some blasts ready, but should she fire she risked melting into ectoplasm like the other clones. He managed to lift his head, just in time to see her use a single hand in attempts to blast him back. She hardly had a moment to react before one of Vlad’s dark red blasts struck her, sending her flying out of Danny’s vision. He was hesitant to shift, his exposed arms placed on top of the glass shards in efforts to stay upright. He could become intangible without having to go ghost, but the wail always drained his energy.

He mustered enough strength to roll to the side as Plasmius’ boots crushed the glass closest to him. His captor had been right. He was beaten. Vlad knew he no longer had the willpower to go ghost. Danny flipped onto his back, his head rolling over his neck as he forced his eyes to remain open. He was vulnerable, dammit he was vulnerable. There would be no one to save him. His friends were still mad at him. His parents had been obsessed with some new device and had never found out about Danielle. Jazz would question it, when he didn’t return home that night. If it was already night. He didn’t know, he had been kept in the basement this entire time.

“I may be, beaten… but you don’t have any more clones. At least, not on your side.”

“She may have betrayed me, but I can always make more. I have you here Daniel, and you aren’t going anywhere.” 

His glove glowed with dark-red power. Danny had a moment for his eyes to widen before the blast was directed toward him. Uncaring of his condition and in a drive for survival, he threw himself to the left, rolling in the process to lessen the impact and climbing to his feet. Plasmius stalked closer, and adrenaline drove the boy to take hasty steps back. Then a hand closed around his neck, holding him in place. 

“Vlad you’re insane how can you think that you’ll possibly be able to-”

He jostled him, pulling him close until they were face to face. Since he had been confronted in Amity Park, he hadn’t reverted back to his human form. Like Vlad himself had said, it truly was a serious enough situation he couldn’t spare Danny a few moments of him being human. Only those brief seconds when Danielle and himself had been able to hold him at bay. Though in this circumstance Danny had to admit, Plasmius was stronger and had more experience. 

“There’ll be no getting out of this.” 

Then there was the sound of a powering blast. His eyes flicked down to see the blast sink into his chest, sending him backward. Danny, in his human weaker form, hit the wall with a sickening crack. Spine and head taking the brunt of the impact. Having a second to wonder if it was enough to leave lasting damage. Consciousness having slipped away before he even slumped to the ground. 

\% # ^ & $/

“We need to find Danny first before I can give him a piece of my mind.”

“Yeah I know Sam,” Tucker clicked at his PDA, “but Danny isn’t answering his phone. Not with me calling or you. Trust me, going to his house is our best bet.” 

“The fact that he ditched school just to hang out with that cousin of his…” Sam couldn’t help but seethe. 

“Something’s off about her. I mean, I know family members can look alike but that Danielle looked way too much like Danny. I mean, she even had his ghost powers.” 

“Yeah, just as messed up as Danny. Both too caught up in their own lives to apologize.”

“Sam, you need to calm down. Danny’s been our best friend since elementary school. He wouldn’t turn his back on us just because some person showed up claiming to be family. We shouldn’t do the same.”

As she looked up she could see that they had made it to the block where the Fentons lived. If Danny had defeated that miniature ghost, he may have just gone straight home with the thermos, not even bothering to come back and help her and Tucker. They had been tasked in cleaning the entire cafeteria, and even afterward had to stay after school for detention. So this grudge that had her gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, was surely going to last until she had properly berated Danny.Tucker climbed the steps with Sam closely behind.

He knocked on the door, and Jazz was there to greet them. Well more or less. Her eyes were downcast toward a book, and she simply waved a hand before ascending the steps. Presumably to her bedroom. The friends made their way into the living room, seeing that Mr. Fenton currently had a metal protective visor over his face as a burner worked its way into their latest ghost-fighting tech. Mrs. Fenton sat on the couch nearby looking through the calculations for said device.

“Hello kids, what brings you here?” She said perkily.

“We were wondering if you’ve seen Danny?” Sam asked. 

“No, dear, he hasn’t been with you?”

“Oh yes, ma’am.” Tucker quickly fumbled a lie. “Just that Sam and I took a small detour and told Danny we’d meet him here.”

“All right, I’m sure he’ll be home soon. You’re welcome to wait in his bedroom if you want.” 

That was all either of them needed. They dashed out of the room and to Danny’s bedroom. Sure that he had just arrived and hadn’t come in through the front door. For lazy motives he would just phase into his bedroom. However, that wasn’t the case. Tucker gave a swift knock before turning the knob and pushing the door open. Sam already had her arms crossed and followed him inside. Coming to the sight where his bed was left messily unmade, some papers were scattered on the floor, and the window hadn’t even been opened. But Danny not present.

She turned to Tucker, narrowing her eyes as she sat on her friend’s bed. “Still believe he cares more about us than that other chick?” 

Tucker instead pulled out his device. “He may have not been able to take out that ghost so easily. Imma check where he could be.” 

\\* $ % ^ &/

His eyes opened, feeling a dull ache at the back of his skull. He let his head sag back, feeling a metal corner press into his neck. When he tried to stretch his limbs, he found that he was prevented from stretching out. Trapped in the spectral energy neutraliser that prevented him from phasing or even going ghost. As he scanned his surroundings, he could see that he wasn’t in the ruins of the lab. It was the lab he recognized from Vlad’s mansion in Wisconsin. 

The towering machines, the various equipment that occasionally bleeped and the lights blinked. The overhead lights had been somewhat dimmed, not as bright as they would typically be.The light that caught his vision the most came from a monitor someways to his left, causing him to crane his head. That one glowed with a gray-blue light, but what most caught his eye was the figure in front it. The screen showing him going ghost, and after being struck by a blast turning back into Fenton. Then it flickered. 

Showing his house, the living room, Jazz just having exited. Switching to the kitchen where his mom stood at the stove stirring something in a pan. His dad eating handful after handful of cheese crackers. 

“That isn’t just spying, it’s stalking. When did you even install cameras in our house?” He demanded.

He was greeted by the older man in his human form, not the towering ghost with red eyes and light green skin. He had been watching the screen for some time, he could guess, due to the unfocused gaze shifting over to look at him.

“Your family isn’t yet questioning where you are.” He said in a calm voice.

“Well my friends must’ve told them-”

“Whatever must have been said that stilled that worry, it won’t last for long.”

He stood from the chair, pulling something from his pocket as he approached Danny. The teenager noticed it instantly, the familiar plain gray object. His cell phone. Vibrating in Vlad’s hand, though the ringtone non-existent. Danny wondered how long ago Vlad must have taken it. At what point of unconsciousness it had been removed from his jeans. Before he’d even been placed in the cube the first time, or when he’d been transferred to the containment chamber. Or after he and Danielle had attempted to fight back. Vlad opened it, smiling at what he must have seen. 

“They truly must care about you, those friends of yours. You have two missed calls from your sister, a text from your mother, but five calls each from the boy and the girl. 20 texts from the girl, and the boy has sent eight.”

He held it to Danny’s vision, having opened a text where Sam said to stop playing games and pick up the damn phone. That it wasn’t fair what he had done earlier. Before Danny could manage to put together a response, Vlad slammed it shut and returned it to his own pocket.

“A pity those will go unanswered.”

“They’ll find out where I am.”

“I don’t think so Daniel. Earlier they came to your bedroom looking for you. Not very approving of that cousin of yours.”

“You mean the clone you created? What did you do to Danielle!?” He demanded. 

“You’d like to see?”

He crossed over to a small cabinet attached to the wall. Eyes skimming the contents before he took an object and returned to where Danny lay captive. Holding a large jar with green ooze.

“I’m afraid this is all that remains of her.” 

“But why?” He clenched his fists. “She was your one clone that was successful. You wanted one like me, you got it. Just in the female sense.”

“Too much like you, my dear boy. Just as rebellious. Her betrayal cost her. I’ll be making more that hopefully don’t turn against me.”

“Just how obsessed are you that the clone has to be to my exact image? You could have done well with a female in your life, goodness knows you need one.”

“I’m trying to attain the perfect half-ghost  _ son _ . I won’t settle for different. But you needn’t worry about her any longer Daniel.You should be worrying about yourself.”

“How come?” He was hesitant to ask, already having perceived an answer.

“I told you it wouldn’t be easy to get out of this. You may have destroyed months of my work, but with you here, I can start anew. And this time, I  _ will  _ get your DNA.” 

“And you plan to keep me in this box the whole time, while I wait for you to create something that you hope will actually have the ability to force me to morph before it turns back into gloop? Vlad, you’re at a dead end.”

“For now Daniel, but that’s the wonderful thing about experiments. If deterred, you can just try again. A failure doesn’t last forever.” He set the jar back on its shelf. “With you here, I’ll be able to create a clone just as strong as you.”

“And I’ll get out and destroy your efforts all over again.” 

“Not, while you’re in here. But you are my guest, permanent until further notice.”

“I think guests have better accommodations than this.” 

“We can’t have you phasing now can we.”

“You’re honestly going to keep me in this box until you have a clone ready?”

“I advise you get comfortable Daniel.” He ruffled the boy’s hair before making his way out the exit door. 

Danny started shifting in the cube. He knew it was meant to keep him from phasing. But he also knew that there had to be a release button. His hands slid across the metal inside, and his legs were forced to bend at the knee. He knew that if he didn’t escape from this, he’d soon lose feeling in his arms. The body wasn’t meant to be confined in close quarters for long durations of time. He knew that Vlad had originally left it hovering, but it was on the floor for now. He wondered if the cheese king was still around to release him.

Then again, there was also the possibility that Vlad had altered the design, and there may no longer be a release button on the side. He started jerking against it, knowing that soon enough the metal pressing against his neck would become very annoying. 

\ # * ^ % /

Vlad sighed. It would be a lot of work to do anew. It was months of work, of gathering data to analyze and be able to create five clones… all destroyed at the hands of another halfa. He knew that Daniel would fight the whole way through, and it would be a while until he could ingrain it in the young man's head that he wouldn't be escaping. The billionaire acknowledged that what he was doing was in itself a crime. If Daniel's parents hastened a guess that the boy had come to Wisconsin, he would inevitably receive a call. But he knew that the eldest daughter also knew his secret identity. She wouldn't believe that Daniel had come of his own accord. So Vlad deduced that he couldn't admit to anyone that he had the boy. At least, not anyone human.

He summoned the vultures, ghosts that were entirely loyal to him since he had befriended them eleven years ago in the ghost zone. Only one emerged, its eyes glowing red as he inspected his now leader. 

“What ya need boss?” The vulture said.

“I need you to make a delivery for me.” He pulled out the silver cell phone from his pocket with a beige handkerchief. “Take this device to Amity Park. Leave it in close proximity of the Fenton home. A dumpster, underneath a car. Anywhere nearby.”

He folded the cell phone so it was underneath a nice bundle of fabric. Even if the vulture dropped it, it wouldn’t take much damage. Though he knew that he would prefer it destroyed. Harder to track where the cell phone had been if it’s no longer functioning. However, Vlad knew he couldn’t destroy it himself, or it would call unwanted attention. 

“You want to make sure his family finds it?”

“They’re soon to discover that their son is missing. I wouldn’t like them to be able to trace it to me. It’s deactivated, so it won’t vibrate on incident.”

“Sure thing, boss.” The vulture took the phone in its claws.

Phasing through the castle walls as it set off to complete its task. Vlad knew that at some point the Fentons would file a missing persons report on their son. The benefits of being half-ghost, is that his actions would be left untraceable. None of the civilians had seen him as Plasmius, and only Danielle could have told the tale of what happened to Daniel. The one risk he did have of being discovered, is that of the Fentons. Knowing Jack, he may have invented some mechanism that could track ghosts. And due to Daniel having to live under the same roof as his obsessive parents, the device may already have the other halfa’s ghost signature.

Then there was the issue of the boy’s nagging friends. Samantha and Tucker. They had already been assaulting the boy’s cellular device with texts, Daniel knew that they had been attempting to contact him. Vlad knew they would try to find their friend. The two friends and Daniel’s sister would always be suspicious of why the halfa had gone missing. Some of the only people in the boy’s life who knew the dangers there were in both worlds. With Danielle already having reverted to ectoplasm, he didn’t know what Daniel’s friends had discovered about her. He had sent the young girl to reside in Daniel’s bedroom and track his movements until he could confront the boy himself, but due to the betrayal he wouldn’t know if the boy and girl knew she could transform.

Sending the cellular phone back to Amity Park was only one part of what he had to do. He just had to ensure that it seemed as if the boy had truly disappeared and there was no chance of him being found. Debating if he had to go as far as pointing the finger at a human. He knew it may need to be done due to Daniel’s friends never letting anything sit still. Though he knew there wasn’t anything that would point the finger at him. For now, all he could was wait and see how it would play out. See how the Fenton family would react to the youngest child being taken. Then be able to gauge if he would have to step in.

In the meantime, he had work to do. Daniel would keep attempting to fight back, and though he knew there wasn’t an easy way to escape from the cube, the boy would surely hurt himself trying to do so. Vlad would need to find some alternate restraints so the boy wouldn’t be confined in the neutraliser for months on end. He had a number of ghosts he could contact. They would be able to provide him with what he needed to keep Daniel contained.


End file.
